MEADOW LAKE — As the 17-year-old charged with murdering four people made his first court appearance, two First Nations leaders say the easy victim-perpetrator dynamic does not apply.

The teen, who according to several people was relentlessly bullied, had few places to turn for help in a community with few services for mental health, addictions or other social ills, many La Loche residents have said in the wake of Friday’s shootings at a home in the community and then at La Loche Community School.

Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) Chief Bobby Cameron is in Saskatoon hospital visiting the wounded and their families. Vice-chiefs Heather Bear and Bob Merasty were in court to support other La Loche families involved.

“As far as the families, they’re all victims. I don’t know what to call (the teen), whether he’s a perpetrator, a suspect or victim. Like I say, we are all in this together,” Bear said.

“The reality is these issues have been known for a long time. It’s so sad it’s had to come to this.”

Merasty said the immediate response has been heartening. The difficult task will be dressing the long-term issues like poverty, education funding, addictions and mental health services and other needs.

The annual suicide rate in the Keewatin Yatthe Regional Health Authority is the highest of any health authority in Saskatchewan. The area, which includes La Loche, Buffalo Narrows, Ile a la Crosse and other communities in the province’s northwest, averaged 43.4 suicide deaths per 100,000 people between 2008 and 2012. That’s more than triple the average annual provincial rate of 12.7 suicide deaths per 100,000. The average annual suicide rates in the Saskatoon and Regina Qu’Appelle health authorities were 10.2 and 11.5 per 100,000 people respectively for the same time frame.

“This is a call to action …We need to rally around investing in our youth,” said Merasty.

Saskatchewan RCMP received a report on Friday around 1 p.m. about an active shooter at La Loche Community School. Police said that during the eight minutes the teen was in the school, he shot nine people. Two staff members died. Police soon learned there were more victims: brothers, one 13 and the other 17, were discovered dead in a home not far away.

The tall, thin teen made a brief appearance, represented by defence lawyer Ian Mokuruk, in Meadow Lake provincial court, wearing an orange short-sleeved jumpsuit. He was led in by RCMP. When asked by the judge if he had family there, the teen replied in a soft voice, “My mom,” and looked towards the gallery. The judge asked him whether he understood he is not to contact several people involved in the case.

He is to be held in custody until his next court appearance Feb. 22.

The judge ordered a publishing ban on any details identifying the teen, and also any details that would identify any of those injured.

Outside the courthouse following the teen’s appearance, National Metis Council president Clem Chartier said Metis and First Nation youth in La Loche have been “crying out for help” for years.

“He’s hanging in there,” Mokuruk said earlier in the morning, after a scheduled 9:30 a.m. court appearance was delayed until the afternoon. Several dozen people made the trip to Meadow Lake, which is around 350 kilometres south of La Loche.

“He’s upset. Much like his demeanour in court, he was not at all happy, which is understandable. It’s a very tragic situation.”

Mokuruk, saying he’s “had the privilege” of working in La Loche, admitted that the community “continues to have its difficulties and challenges” but stressed there are “many hard-working, industrious people.”

The defence lawyer said it may take weeks to gather all the necessary information from investigators and police before moving forward in the case. He declined to answer questions about any bullying that is alleged to have been directed towards the accused. According to multiple relatives, friends and classmates interviewed, the 17-year-old was bullied relentlessly, including being taunted frequently about his big ears.

The alleged shooter was a large, very sensitive and quiet teen, said Perry Herman, who knew the accused’s family, and other La Loche residents said. He was taunted frequently about his large ears. According to three sources inside the building at the time of the killings, the teen dared people to tease him about his ears. The teen passed over more than one student who had treated him with kindness. “Oh no, not you bro,” he apparently said before moving on.

To call the entire affair a tragedy,” said Mokuruk, “doesn’t do the incident justice.”

The teen is facing four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder and one count of unauthorized possession of a firearm in connection with the shocking shootings that took place around the noon hour on Friday in the northern Saskatchewan town, approximately 600 kilometres north of Saskatoon.

Outside the courthouse, Crown prosecutor Lloyd Stang said the shootings were “an incredibly, enormously tragic incident” but at this point in the legal proceedings, everything “is going according to plan.”

On Sunday, Premier Brad Wall, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Metis National Council President Clem Chartier and others met with local leaders for 90 minutes.

Following the meeting, Wall said the provincial government has increased support to northern communities in several ways, but said, “We probably do need to do more.”

Chartier and Bellegarde noted the yawning gap between aboriginal communities and the rest of Canada. Charter said this tragedy and other violence is “not a law and order issue” but a social one. Bellegarde noted Canada ranks sixth globally in quality of life, but Canada’s aboriginal peoples rank 64th.

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